Tips, strategies, thoughts and discussion for increasing your Metalstorm Online Skills.
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Saturday, January 21, 2012

Classes of Planes

Classes of Planes:

There are 3 classes of planes, each with their own strengths
and weaknesses. None of the classes are
the outright “best” – each gives you advantages but usually at a cost in
another area of performance.

For campaigns and survival mode, it seems like weapons class
or defense class planes work best. The
fighter opposition is not very skilled and you have a lot of planes, ships and
cannons to blow up in the campaign. Having some decent
armor helps prolong your life. The speed
of the agility class planes is not really needed against these adversaries and. the durability of your plane is much more important. The
weapons class and especially the defense class planes work best as you maneuver thru the
multitude of adversaries in these modes.

For Versus mode, there is a variety of opinions as to which
planes work best in versus mode. From what I have
seen, weapons class planes seem to be the most common/popular. The Hawken, in particular, tends to be used a
lot. When I use the Hawken, I find that
I tend to be able to easily defeat lower level planes but have trouble with
higher skill rated pilots. Missile
choice is a huge factor (will be a separate posting). Agility planes are a lot of fun – they can
usually outmaneuver the other class planes, even if the pilots have a higher
skill level, however one or two shots and you’re done – very easily blown
up. Defense class planes seem to be the least
popular for versus mode – they are easily outmaneuvered by the other 2 classes
of planes, which is problematic, even with heavy armor and stealthy
characteristics. Part of the fun is trying
the different planes and classes as you earn them and seeing which you prefer.

1) Below 3k sr :--> Games here pretty much easy all the way, players learning how to fly(don't even know slowing down enables a sharper turn), un-upgraded planes going everywhere. Basically just need to get phoenix missiles/fully upgrade your plane and it almost gives u the supreme advantage.

2) Below 3k sr :--> Games go a bit more tricky, coin users start to appear(seemingly impossible to win them especially with bisnovats). Here is where skills start to develop a whee bit more, and the inception of "Weapon classes" are the best, slight better maneuvers but still swipe downs and barrel-rolling with no speed+upwards motion.

3) Below 5k sr :--> Games differ more in terms of skill, the illusion of agi planes being too formidable, the inability to target or defeat agi planes are here. There are some that start to learn to maneuver without the usage of coin missiles(still see them though), proper speed up and barrel rolls, still at the end, the idea of who has the better plane arises which stat is important? Change of plane now? And also the defeat of agi planes still at this stage.

4)5k and above sr :--> This is where to real challenge comes, agi plane aces are here, where the glimpse of them would be rockets at you and nothing more. The feeling of giving up due to hopelessness of weapon class, now uses coin missiles to "deal" with agi planes. Some might argue its the lag, some the hack, but to me its not lost, it is now balanced, weapons class still can stand a chance(way better than defence), and is much more challenging to play compared to agi class.

Then now my question after playing so far, could it be when weapons plane vs agi plane, the best stat is actually damage+agi+armor? Doesn't this actually means that sentinel would be the best choice of planes? (ignoring bisnovat users/coin users). Any views? Cause when I play at this stage, there wont even be enough time to missile lock your opponent, hence I have purchased the Liberty plane, fastest lock speed, fastest speed(in weapons), and best tracking missile. Even with the liberty, by the time ur missile locks, your missile cant bend/reach in time of the agi plane. Hence meelee missiles are the only way, making sentinel the best weapons plane no?

A weapon class plane without missile reload speed increased in my opinion is not so good, and the non-laked version's agility and armor aren't enough high to get ma excited... About the damage, it is good but is it better if u shot 2 17% damage missiles with the sentinel or 3 or 4 12/14% damage missiles with a red widow/hawken? The second ones have more possibility to hit too so i think it makes the red widow the best weapon class out there.

I think, it's fair to say that Weapon Class is a good all-rounder element for beginners and novices. Sure it does not have that much of an agility but its still formidable. Higher battles are obviously for agility planes.

Dragon is certainly a good versus mode plane too. Weap class don't have armor regen so cannon can slowly eat it down, but dragon got armor regen and hell lot of energy to maneuver and even bisnovat can't do a lot of damage. You may not always win, but 99% of the time you won't lose.

You were probably up against either a beginner or a noob to get 12-0. The hawken will own them. I started doing vs with weapons class too but I just can't catch agi planes at higher SR. It made my firepower useless.I agree on the dragon being good at versus too. It's a very tough plane to kill in the hands of a good pilot.